Gift Bag from Wrapping Paper

I have spent 4 weeks working on various wrapping projects and I have finally realized that I have made a huge, huge mistake. As you know with all the wrapping techniques I’ve tried so far, I have experienced high highs and low lows and made my fair share of mistakes. My biggest mistake, however, was not trying the “Wrapping Paper Gift Bag” on day 1 of “Wrapt”. I could have abandoned this whole month-long endeavor and declared my love and allegiance to this new technique and escaped the shame and embarrassment I have experienced week after week. I believe I have finally found the wrapping technique that is simple, quick and hard to screw up. It’s a gift bag made from wrapping paper, it takes 2 minutes and I’m in love!

You fold the bag, tape it down, make two holes, thread some ribbon through the holes, tie it and voila – you’re done! The folds are easy to make, it doesn’t have to be measured perfectly, the folds are on the bottom side of the bag so if you sucked at folding – no one can see! The only downside is that you can see some tape on the back of the bag, but I’m sure some good double-sided tape and creative folding could eliminate the taped look.

Here’s the final product:

The early morning lighting in my living room doesn’t quite capture the gloriousness of this bag, but you get the idea. If you know me personally, you should expect to get your Christmas gift in a homemade bag because I’m going all in on this technique!

Newspaper Bow

I feel the same way about the Newspaper Bow that I feel about the wrapping paper bag. I’m head over heels in love and I should have done it sooner!

I think I may be mostly in love with the YouTube video I found about how to make the bow. It’s made by a sweet lady whose channel is called “Crafts for Kids”. Here is her logo from the video:

So. Dang. Cute. She made a very simple video to explain a very simple bow and it is amazing!

All you need:

Newspaper

Stapler

Scissors

The procedure is super easy. You stack 8 sheets of newspaper, cut a long strip, fold each strip like this:

You staple the ends down and then stack each strip on top of each other and staple them together.

Here’s my finished product:

Not too bad! It takes a little manipulation to hide the center staples, but otherwise this bow could not be any easier. Considering this was a “craft for kids” and I had so much success, maybe I should stick to kids crafts more often!

It’s a wrap for Wrapt. I can’t say that I’ve had fun, but it’s certainly been educational. I’ve learned that I can be better at wrapping than I expected, but keeping my expectations low is a good thing – it’s not like I’ve discovered a hidden talent. I’ve also learned that there are a ton of resources out there for inept people like me, so I really have no excuse if I don’t continue to improve year after year.

If anything, doing all of this has alleviated a little seasonal anxiety. Knowing I have to wrap so many gifts every December freaks me out a little. Now I’ve got my go-to homemade gift bag (if appropriate) and I know that if anything wild comes my way like a cylinder or a tee-shirt without a box, I can wrap it.. it won’t be pretty… but I CAN wrap it… and then adorn it with the perfect newspaper bow or ribbon bow to try to make up for the gift’s overall presentation. Pun intended.

No more 4 week projects, I promise.

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2 thoughts on “Wrapt: Week 4 – Bags and Bows”

You finally hit your stride with that clever bag and pretty newspaper bow. I had hoped this project would turn you into someone who loves wrapping gifts as much as I do, but it sounds like it’s still not your favorite. In any case, you’re more than welcome to send me a gift in a re-folded cereal box any old time, or (my personal favorite) slap some Finding Nemo and robot stickers all over it and call it good! 😀

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About Lindsay

I'm not known for my creativity, craftiness, precision, design aesthetic or fashion sense but I'm stubbornly persistent, naively unafraid and unabashedly motivated to find out what I'm truly capable of accomplishing.